An MMORPG is the type of game where thousands of people join a single server and run around doing random quests to level up for bragging rights. I can't stand this style of video game for numerous reasons. South Park did an excellent job of mocking the entire concept already, so I'll just link that episode here. Keep in mind that it's South Park, so it's not exactly family friendly.
What makes Sword Art Online [the in-universe game] unique is that it's the first Virtual Reality MMORPG to ever be created. The main character, Kirito, was a Beta Tester for the game, so now that it's officially released he already knows everything. Naturally this makes him a boring character, since he's going to be grinding through everything and not learning any new stuff on his journey. To solve this problem, they give Kirito a friend who just picked up the game who he has to teach everything to. Just when his friend has to go, they discover the first part of the central conflict of the show: nobody can log out of the game.
Just moments later, the lead developer of the game appears in a highly over-dramatic fashion and announces that this is a feature, not a bug. You see, he has a god complex, and created the game to become its god. Also, if anyone dies in the game, the VR device is rigged to fry their brains. The same thing happens if anyone in the real world tampers with the VR device. In fact, 213 people have already died because of this. and here are the news articles to prove it. The only way out is for the players to beat the game, and considering that this is an MMORPG, that's going to take years. Mwuhahahaha!
Ignoring how the idea of dieing in virtual reality killing you in real life has already been done to death, tell me I'm not the only one who sees the problem with this maniac's plan. 213 people have been killed, meaning that at the very least the lead developer is facing 213 counts of gross negligence manslaughter, with that number rising by the minute. WHERE THE #%$# IS THE POLICE!?
Okay, let's be fair here; this isn't exactly the kind of problem the police would be trained to deal with. This is probably a nation-wide disaster, so perhaps the government has a federal law enforcement agency, you know, the NPA. If it's too much for them to handle, they also have a counter-terrorism unit called the Special Assault Team. Okay, maybe the disaster goes beyond even their abilities, so it's time to call in the military, or in the case of Japan, the Self Defense Forces and their Special Forces Group. But perhaps even the Japanese can't handle it on their own. Fortunately for them, America has a large number of military bases in Japan, including Kadena Air Base where multiple United States Air Force Combat Control Teams are stationed. And in less than 24 hours, Delta Force, Navy Seals, Army Rangers, Marine Force Recon, Green Berets, and many more special operations units can arrive to assist the Japanese government in bringing the evil video game developers to justice. Realistically speaking, the 9787 people still trapped in the game are going to be rescued within a few days, and the lead developer will soon be found guilty of 213 counts of premeditated murder, with 9787 first-hand witnesses to his confession, not counting any other members of the dev team who may agree to testify against him.
The second episode takes place one month later, and everyone is still trapped. Screw this show.
In all seriousness, I don't think Sword Art Online is a bad show. It's still enjoyable to watch if you ignore how stupid this aspect of it is, and I'm going to continue to watch new episodes as they come out. I'm not a real fan of the show, but it's better than most TV shows out there. Of course this is just a preliminary judgment based on the first two episodes, so my mind could still change.
Spam? REALLY?! I HAVE MY FIRST SPAMMER! I guess this means my blog is somehow getting popular despite me never writing on it. I guess I should get to it.
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